Most beginning swim students, and especially young children, find that being placed in a prone swimming position in a body of water is an intimidating, if not a frightening experience, and not one adapted to inspire confidence. Even with the underbody hand support of an instructor many beginners are prone to panic when asked to reach and pull or do the crawl and scissor kick at the same time.
As the inspiration for the present invention, it has been discovered that beginners immediately relax and become receptive to teaching commands once the student senses lifting type of support at the small of the back.
The prior art has seen many different configurations of apparatus designed to either assist beginning swimmers or provide instruction to more advanced swimmers. The U.S. Patent to Lan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,598 for Swim Training and Buoyancy Assist Device, is one illustration of the prior art where the distal end of a tether is attached to a belt around the swimmer's waist. The tether is anchored to the side of a swimming pool restraining the swimmer from moving more than a short distance in one direction from the anchor. While possibly providing apparent buoyancy or lifting, the device would not prevent a beginning swimmer from sinking to a depth that would produce panic.
Similar apparatus have been developed by others but suffer from the same disadvantage, that is, the device is primarily useful to a swimmer who has at least some ability to cope with the water and execute at least remedial swimming strokes without fear.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide an easily donned and non-hampering harness to be worn by a beginning swim student that will provide a swim instructor with means to build confidence and reduce the student's fear of the water.
Another object of the invention is to provide a harness for the beginning swimmer that includes a handle by which an instructor can easily provide a lifting force to the lower back of a prone swim student to keep the student from being immersed in the water to an extent that will cause panic and fear.
Another and further object of the invention is to combine the function of supporting the swimmer by lifting the handle on the swimmer's harness with the added function of moving the swimmer's legs in a manner that will encourage the leg kicking that is required of a prone swimmer.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent on a reading of the following description of the preferred form of the invention taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.